Staccato Powell, a former national leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme targeting congregations across California.
Over a span of four years, Powell, who was appointed to lead the church’s Western Episcopal District in 2016, deceived several congregations in major California cities such as Oakland, San Jose, Vallejo, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles into transferring their church property deeds to a private company he and his associate, Sheila Quintana, controlled.
This company then utilized the church properties as collateral to secure high-interest loans, amassing a total of $14 million, which federal prosecutors allege Powell and Quintana used for personal enrichment.
Powell has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit both wire and mail fraud.
Quintana had previously entered a guilty plea in April for charges of mail fraud and conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors claim that the pastors of the California churches were misled into signing over their property deeds.
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors outlined how Powell misrepresented to dissenting pastors that the church’s General Conference mandated transferring the deeds under the guise of a policy change, thereby facilitating the transfer to a private entity that he and Quintana controlled.
The manipulation included a “campaign of pressure and misinformation,” leading pastors and congregations to be misinformed about the loan amounts and the reasons for such significant borrowing.
In Oakland, the indictment states that Powell and Quintana advised the pastor of the Greater Cooper AME Zion Church—who has since been replaced—that a policy shift necessitated the signing over of the deed for their West Oakland property located at 1420 Myrtle St.
After obtaining the title, they took out over $2 million in high-interest loans against the church and its related properties.
As word spread among pastors and church members throughout California about the encumbered properties and resultant fraudulent loans, some congregations filed complaints with AME Zion Church’s leadership.
By 2019, many churches received notices indicating that their properties were facing foreclosure due to the fraudulent loans.
Prosecutors allege that Powell siphoned off some of the borrowed funds to pay down his mortgage in North Carolina, while Quintana reportedly wrote checks drawn from the company’s account payable to her husband.
In 2021, the AME Zion Church’s General Conference stripped Powell of his title as Bishop.
He was indicted in January of the following year and is currently out on bond.
Powell’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 23, where he could potentially face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud charges.
Attorneys for both Powell and Quintana have not yet responded to inquiries from The Oaklandside regarding the ongoing case.
image source from：oaklandside
